Since the mid-1800's, talking dolls have been known. These early dolls were two types. One with a string activated wood and paper bellows said "Mama" or "Papa". The other relied on a weight activated cylindrical bellows with holes along one side to emit a crying sound when moved. Some dolls are still made this way today. In the 1890's a doll known as the "Jumeau Bebe and a Phonographe" told jokes, spoke phrases like "Hello, my dear little Mommie", using a mechanism designed by Thomas Edison, which was a wax cylinder recording activated by a key wound clockwork-like mechanism. In the early 1900's, a doll known as "Dolly" sang and recited nursery rhymes. These dolls also used cylindrical recordings, but the recordings were probably on plastic or rubber cylinders. In 1960, a doll known as "Chatty Kathy" was introduced which had a repetoire of eleven to twenty-two phrases. The voice mechanism was operated by a pull string which activated a miniature phonograph disc that played back pre-recorded phrases.
Over the years, there have been many efforts to make a doll more lifelike and communicative with its owner U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,794 discloses an animated talking doll with a mouth actuating mechanism. Eye and lip movements were coordinated with a phonographic means for reproducing speech. U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,406 proposed an improved mechanism for coordinating the movements of the jaw with a phonograph. U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,696 disclosed a doll in which there were multiple animations in the face.
More recently, it has been proposed to combine a cassette recording in a doll which includes signals thereon which will synchronously control the movement of the mouth of the doll, as the recorded phrases are reproduced. It has further been proposed to have two dolls with cassette recordings therein which will appear to simulate intelligent conversation. These last mentioned dolls have also been provided with mouth actuating means which move the mouth in synchronism with the recorded speech.
A drawback with these dolls is that they are not interactive with the child. Some toy manufacturers maintain that the talking dolls improve the play value for children between three and nine years. Some child psychologists and parents disagree, stating that these dolls do nothing to stimulate a child's imagination. The result is that children are reduced to reacting to a toy passively, much like watching television.
A professor of child development at a leading university has stated that talking toys serve to try to get kids to have a more limited dialogue with themselves. A child development specialist in the Pediatrics Department of a West Coast hospital observed that children often turn off their high tech dolls. This specialist has stated that when he goes through the rooms of a pediatric center, he rarely hears children playing with them. Initially, the children are fascinated, but when the thrill wears off, young children use them in their own way, much as a snuggly teddy bear. Kids need toys which inspire their imagination.
The loss of interest of the child in the speaking ability of a toy is believed to be due to the repetitious nature in which the toys speak. Children soon become cognizant of the repetitive nature of the vocabulary and lose interest.
Accordingly, the present invention provides talking dolls using speech synthesizers which provide a simulated conversation between dolls and accordingly provide interaction between the doll's owners. The dolls utilize randomly selected phrases in response to a phrase spoken by another doll, and do not appear to be repetitious.